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No. 245,086. PatentedAug 2,1881.

mn@ ses. Invenbns: 4 g: JJM: at) )'fl'f l2/ M10/yb- UNITED STATESPATENT. OFFICE.

ISAAC P. MINER, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YOEK,`AND OLIVER T. JENNINGS, OF THEGLADEs, GEORGIA, AssIeNORs To ABRAHAM e. JENNINGs, OF

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.v

COTTON-'GIN'.

SPECIFICATION'forming part of Letters Patent No. 245,086, dated August2, 1881.

Y Application med March 29,1881. (Nomaden .To all 'whom it 'may concern:

Be it known that we, ISAAC P. MINER, of Brooklyn, Kings county, NewYork, `and OLIVER '.l. JENNINGS, of The Glades, in the county of Halland State of Georgia, have in? Vented a new and useful Improvement inCotton-Gins, of which the following is a specification.-

This improvement relates to what is com- Inonly called the rollergin, indistinction from the sawgin; and it relates more particularly to thedevices by which the seed is sepa` rated from the cotton lint or ber. Inthe sawgin the lint is pulled by the teeth of the saw through the bars,that prevent the seed from following. Y

In the roller-gin now in use, generally known as the Mc(3arthy,7 theessential features are,

rst, the roller or drawing-cylinder, having a zo rough surface ofleather to seize and cotton-lint; second, a blade or bar tangential tothe roller Vand close to it and, third, a re,

ciprocating blade` that yhas au up-and-down motion, passing over asection of the roller, 2 5 and the stationary blade separating the seedfrom the lint as it is drawn away by the roller. The improvement we havemade, instead of the straight vsquare-edgedV blade moving up and down,consists of a straight plate or blade, 3o made of steel or other hardmetal, which is notched, serrated, or indented on the upper edge andreciprocated rapidly in a horizontal direction in front of thestationary blade and the roller. This serrated blade has a recipro- 3 5eating orvibrating or alternate motion to the right and left of twoinches, more or less, the ei'ect of which is to violently shake, roll,and twist out the seed as the lint is drawn away bythe roller andcarried down between it and 4o the stationary blade. The teethor notchesof this blade are one inch, more or less, apart, are beveled or inclinedeachway, and more or less pointed, as found best in practice, and theindentations are one-half inch, more or less,

deep. Y

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a front'elevation, partly insection, of a cottongin containing our invention. Fig.'2 is a verdrawthetical cross-section of the same 5 Fig. 3, a detail face view of thereciprocating notched blade 5 5o and Fig. 4, a detail top View of thegrating, which is d irectlyin front of the notched blade, and serves tosupport the cotton to be ginned and to let the seed drop down betweenits bars.

In the drawings, the letter A represents the rollerof the cotton-gin.'Ihis roller is made with a rough or brushy surface for the purpose ofenabling it to properly draw the lint, and is, to this end, eithercovered with leather or otherwise prepared to have a sufficientlyfrietional surface so that it will always cause the lint to adhere toit.

B is the stationary blade, secured to one or a series of weightedlevers, O, so that thereby it is made to properly bear against thesurface of the roller, as indicated in Fig. 2; but instead of making theblade B thus movable laterally, the roller may by suitable means, suchas springs or the like, be pressed against the blade B, which in thatcase is quite stationary.

D is the reciprocating notched blade above referred to. Its ends areprovided with projecting pins a, that take against the surfaces of camsb, which are mounted upon a rotary shaft, E, so that by revolving saidshaft by suitable means reciprocating movement in a horizontal directionto the extent of about two inches, more or less, in a full-sized ginwill be rapidly imparted to the blade D.

F is the grating, placed directly in front of 8o the bladeD. andattached to the stationary frame-work of the gin. Its grate-bars are sospaced that the seed, when liberated from the lint, will readily passthrough between them, and the upper edge of the front bar, d, ofthegrate is by preference made more or less undulating or notched, in orderto facilitate the permanencyof the cotton on its way to the roller 5 andthis front bar, d, of thegrating, inasmuch as it is close tothereciprocating blade D, also assists in guiding the latter properly,keepin g it in the proper place. The steel notched or serratedreciprocating blade D is placed close to the stationary blade B and somuch above it that the lowest part of the indenta- 95 tions areone-eighth to one-fourth of an inch below the upper edge oi' thestationary blade or bar B, that presses against the drawingroller A. Theplate B prevents all contact between roller A and blade D. Immediatelyin front of this reciprocating blade is the grid or grate F, throughwhich the seeds, as they are separated, fall. This grid (which formspart of the table holding the cotton to be ginned) is made of perforatedsheet metal, or, if preferred, of heavy wires separated sufficiently toallow the seed to pass through. The ends of these wires are fastened inthe bar d, parallel to the reciprocating blade D, and about onesixteenthof an inch in front of it, and about the same height, and notched asstated.

The usual dot't'er or brush for taking oi the cotton from the roller isor may be used when required.

Only so much of the gin is shown in the drawings asis required toexhibitthe invention.

The horizontal reciprocatin g blade D, for separating the seed from thecotton fiber, has its alternate motion given to it, as stated, by meansof one or both cams b on the shaft E, to which power is attached. Thisshalt is underneath the reciprocating blade D, a cam, b, on the shaft,each end of the blade, acting so as to pull the blade, as required,Iirst to the right and then to theleft, and so on rapidly. These camsare so nicely adjusted that there is nojar or lost motion in themovements. This method of giving alternate motion to the blade seems, tobe the best, although we are not conlined to it, for by a suitableframe-work for the blade to stiften it. the blade can be moved by onecam that will push as well as pull it, or it can be moved by the commoncrank motion.

In this improved cotton-gin the feed ot' the unginned cotton to theroller is at no time cut oi. Neitheris the cotton ber pinched, cut ott',

or broken, as it is in the McCarthy roller-gin, by the action of theseparating-blade moving up and down against the edge of the stationaryblade, sometimes cutting the cotton ber like a pair of shears.

By having the teeth that project from the upper edge ofthe blade I)beveled or inclined each way, as indicated in Fig. 3, the blade becomeseiiective for the purposes of loosening and throwing the seed in each ofits two move mentsthat is to say, both while it moves to the right andwhile it moves to the left; and We regard this fact as an importantfeature of our invention, because our gin is thereby made continuouslyactive where, in the McCarthy gin, the downward movement ofthe separtingbladewas lost to the effectiveness of the gin.

XVe claim- 1. In a roller cotton-gin having drawing-roller A andstationary plate B, the horizontallyreciprocating blade D, havingtoothed or serrated upper edge and placed close to and in front ot' theplate B, but not in contact withroller A, and combined with mechanismfor imparting rectilinear reciprocating motion to said blade D,substantially as described.

2. The combination of the roller A with the horizontally-reciprocatingnotched or toothed blade D and with the cam or cams b on the shaft E,for imparting rectilinear reciprocating motion to said blade D, and withthe plate B, which is interposed between the roller A and blade D,preventing contact between them, substantially as described.

3. In combination with the roller A and plate B, thehorizontally-reciprocating blade D, and the grid or grating F, havingnotched front bar, d, substantially as described.

4. In a roller cotton-gin which is arranged to draw the lint in alateral direction, the verticall},'placed seed-loosei'iing bar D, madewith toothed upper edge and moved horizontally back and forth, to beeii'ectivc at all times while moving in either direction in contact witha stationary plate, B, which separates it from the roller, substantiallyas described.

ISAAC P. MINER. OLIVER T. JENNINGS. Witnesses for Isaac I. Miner:

A. G. JENNiNGs, WILLY G. E. ScHULTz. Witnesses for O. T. Jennings:

GLAUD Esrns, J. B. M. WINBURN.

